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Tim Shaw, a well-respected NFL journeyman, on Tuesday announced that he's suffering from ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.

Shaw's the latest reminder of why the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is personal for NFL players: He's at least the fourth NFL veteran in the past seven years to be diagnosed with ALS, a devastating and incurable disease.

Shaw made the announcement in an ALS Ice Bucket Challenge video posted on the Tennessee Titans website. The 30-year-old retired from the NFL this spring on his birthday, after six seasons and 80 career games.

"A year ago I was playing NFL football," Shaw says in the short video. "I've recently been diagnosed with ALS. I'm here today to stand up and fight with all of you against this disease."

Shaw goes on to challenge the Titans and the Penn State football organization to participate in the ice bucket fundraiser, which is currently sweeping social media.

Shaw isn't a familiar name to many football fans, but hundreds of NFL players knew him as a teammate. A two-time special teams captain for the Titans, Shaw was originally drafted by the Carolina Panthers in 2007, after a five-year college career at Penn State. Shaw also played for the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Chicago Bears — setting a team record for special-teams tackles, his one season in Chicago.

Despite the peripatetic career, Shaw's contributions were valued within the league. "Sometimes you have a teammate that gets a small amount of credit but makes you & your team better in every way," quarterback Matt Hasselbeck tweeted on Tuesday. "That describes [Tim Shaw]."

Shaw's diagnosis, coming at a moment when ALS awareness is at a decades-long high, is a vicious reminder for NFL players: They're at a disturbingly high risk for neurodegenerative disease.

And the payout for their trouble — a couple million dollars, at most.

In a 2012 study, the CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health found that NFL players were four times more likely to suffer and die from ALS than non-NFL players. (The study involved 3,439 men who played at least five seasons in the NFL during 1959 to 1988.)

As the CDC graphic below shows, NFL players also were found to be at a similarly elevated risk of Alzheimer's, too.

The researchers concluded that "speed" position players, like running back, defensive back, and linebacker — Shaw's position — were at the highest risk of neurodegenerative disease.

Shaw is at least the fourth NFL player to be diagnosed with ALS in the past seven years. The other ALS patients include Kevin Turner (a fullback), Steve Gleason (a defensive back), and O.J. Brigance (a linebacker). But at 30 years old, he's the youngest of the group. He also was seemingly never diagnosed with a concussion during his NFL career.

ALS patients end up trapped in a "glass coffin" — able to think, but unable to move or speak, as their motor neurons rapidly die off over the course of several years.

When he retired in March, Shaw said he was leaving his next steps up to faith.

“I can honestly say this, some people don’t understand, but if God wants me to play football, I’ll play,” Shaw said at the time. “If he doesn’t, I’m not going to, and I personally believe that that’s why the phone is not ringing because that’s not what I’m supposed to be doing, but if I was supposed to play, I’d be playing.”

Instead, Shaw will be fighting against ALS — and fighting for his life.